Elisabeth Heslop
Over the mountains, across the plains, into the woods, and out to the ocean—all on two wheels.
This is the summer for four university students from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto.
The second-year students are bicycling across Canada on the “Unleash Your Potential” national health awareness campaign.
“There are a lot of preventable diseases out there,” said cyclist Kate Rood of Flin Flon, Man., noting that healthy living can be a significant preventive factor.
This is the third cross-country trip of the campaign (the previous two happened in 2005 and 2007).
This year’s team is focusing on youth, specifically the current rise of obesity in youth, as well as diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.
Most people who bike across the country are raising money for charities, cancer research, and other such noble causes. These four students, however, are not raising money—they’re raising a nation.
They’re spreading the message that with a little bit of effort, every Canadian can live a healthier life.
“None of us have any previous cycling experience,” noted Rood, adding they are trying to show the country what the average person can do.
“We have no training and [yet] we can cycle across Canada,” she explained.
Fellow cycler Dan Kay, from London, Ont., nodded and added that what they are doing is a bit more extreme than what the average Canadian would do, but it gets the message across nonetheless.
“There are so many things that [people] can do to change their health,” said Rood, from regular exercise to a healthy diet.
Kay added they’re trying to make Canadians aware that “people can take their health into their own hands and do it in a natural way.”
Not that the group is advocating that people should avoid going to the doctor when they are ill or injured, but rather that healthy living can be a strong preventive medicine.
What’s the old phrase? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The quartet started in Vancouver on June 13 and have been travelling an average of about 200 km per day. They have reached the half-way point, Thunder Bay, and are feeling pretty good about how the trek has gone so far.
They crossed the Rocky Mountains via Roger’s Pass on the Trans-Canada Highway with “a lot of hard work and a little determination,” Kay said.
He added that when they were going through the mountains, they still were working on their conditioning.
The long trip across the prairies was a constant battle, with headwinds from the east. And then when they turned after Kenora to come through Fort Frances, they were faced with a headwind from the south.
Team member David Clinning, from Oakville, Ont., laughed and said the winds have been their worst weather-related difficulty so far.
“We’ve only been rained on, really rained on, twice, and once was yesterday [July 9],” he noted.
Physically, they are doing well.
“Our legs are sore,” Kay said, but added there have been no injuries.
In each major city, the team has stopped to do a presentation to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. In the smaller cities and towns, they pass along their message through local media and by talking to people along the way.
And those people they meet along the way, including the local chiropractors who billet the team in their own homes, have made an impact on them.
“It’s pretty overwhelming, the support we get,” Kay said.
The long trip has affected the team in other ways, too.
The fourth team member, Becky Carpenter from Perth, Ont., said facing the day-to-day challenges has increased their mental stamina. It also has given them a whole new outlook on this country.
“Being able to see our country this way makes us really appreciate where we come from,” she remarked.
The team plans to finish their summer-long ride on Aug. 13 in Halifax.
“We’re thinking of riding right into the ocean,” said Clinning.
A few weeks after that, it’s back to school and on with the rest of their lives.
Their progress can be followed through their blogs at www.unleashcanada.org
